Pesticide pollution: Chinese tea may not be safe to drink

Drinking tea is an essential and much cherished part of Chinese culture. It's the pride of the nation, so to speak, and this tea is exported to around the globe. But is China's tea actually safe to drink?

All 18 samples contained at least three pesticides. One sample - Richun's Tieguanyin 803 tea - even showed up with 17 different kinds of pesticides! A total of 14 samples were found to have the kind of pesticides that may affect fertility, harm an unborn child or cause heritable genetic damage.

Seven of those firms from whom we bought tea are among China's top 10 tea sellers. The tea products included green tea, oolong tea and jasmine tea, and were purchased from stores located in Beijing, Chengdu and Haikou. Read our report to see which brands we tested.

China is the world's biggest producer of tea, and it is also the world's biggest user of pesticides.

Why should you be concerned?

11 of the samples including Tenfu's Bi Luo Chun tea and jasmine tea produced by Zhang Yiyuan and Wuyutai contained methomyl and endosulfan. Pesticides that are banned for use on tea leaves by China's Ministry of Agriculture.

And there is good reason why these pesticides are banned.

The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies methomyl as highly hazardous because of its high acute toxicity. Endosulfan is another highly toxic pesticide which is known for its persistent toxicity and bio-accumulation effect, and is banned globally.

What needs to happen

It's simple. China's tea companies must:

1. Stop the use of highly toxic pesticides altogether.2. Drastically reduce the use of pesticides.3. Establish an effective traceability and supply chain control system that ensures the reduction of pesticide use and its compliance with the law.

Take action

For now the most important thing you can do is read our report and then spread the word.

1. Post this page on your Facebook, Twitter or other social media using the sharing tool on the left-hand side of the page.2. E-mail this page to your friends by filling out the form below.